An air strike reportedly carried out by Sudan’s army killed five children in a paramilitary-controlled town in North Kordofan state on Sunday, according to a rights group monitoring the conflict. The attack targeted a house in the village of Abu Zaeima, injuring the children’s mother, the group said, attributing the strike to an Antonov aircraft operated by the military. Sudan’s armed forces have yet to respond to the allegation.

The incident occurred amid ongoing clashes between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the strategic Kordofan region. The area, which links eastern and western Sudan, has been a theatre of conflict for more than three years, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and displacing millions. Both sides have increasingly employed drone strikes to conduct distant attacks, complicating the security and humanitarian situation.

In North Kordofan’s capital, El Obeid, repeated drone strikes on civilian locations have exacerbated a worsening humanitarian crisis, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported. Shashwat Saraf, NRC’s country director for Sudan, highlighted the toll on children, who face difficult decisions about continuing their education amid the violence. “Each attack leaves families wondering what will be hit next,” Saraf said.

Efforts by international mediators to facilitate peace talks between the conflicting parties have yielded limited progress. Despite the stalemate, Sudan’s de facto leader and army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, expressed continued commitment to peace efforts in a recent message to U.S. President Donald Trump. Posting on the social media platform X, Burhan reaffirmed Sudan’s readiness to cooperate in good faith for a durable peace that respects the country’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and the dignity of its people.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan remains complex and multifaceted, with no immediate resolution in sight, as fighting persists and civilians continue to bear the brunt of the violence.